Darkest Before Dawn
by Hiei1011
Summary: Rewrite of Hiei of Alesia collaborated by Amann0407 to go with the Golden Dawn rewrite by Amann0407.
1. Cold Shoulder

Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 1

Cold Shoulder

**Milky Way Galaxy: Outer rim / Vels Sector / Belst**

**7000 BC**

Alesian ships orbited the small orange planet, having just conquered the civilization that once stood on its ground. On board the Angelan class destroyer _Death's Advance_, General Nex Ado sat and watched his team work. Everything was going smoothly. _Almost too smoothly_, he thought to himself. The Asgard had never even bothered to make an attempt to stop them this time. He figured that either they didnt have the ships to stop them or they just gave up. Either was fine with him. It would make their advance that much easier.

"Get Councilor Amann on the comm." Nex ordered, his hands gripping the armrests of his command chair.

"Yes sir," a young legionnaire said. Within seconds, Amann's face appeared on the screen.

"What is it, Nex? I am rather busy here, the main Asgard fleet has pulled away from the fight and we must consolidate our forces before we can pursue." Amann asked, his irritation showing at the interruption.

Nex Ado spoke quickly, "The planet Belst has fallen to our forces. Our scouts are searching the system for any signs of the Asgard, but as of yet they haven't made an appearance."

"That quickly? It hasn't even been a day since I sent you there." Amann said, surprise showing on his features. Nex opened his mouth to speak when a legionnaire yelled out.

"Sir Asgard ships on long range scanners, just outside Alesian space."

"Vector?" Nex asked questioningly.

"Heading toward the Mid-Region worlds!"

"Handle it Nex." Amann told him before cutting the transmission.

Nex stood up , turning to face his crew. "Send a message to the _Shadow of Retribution_ to head to the location of the Asgard. Detach three cruisers to act as escorts."

As the image of a large ship leaving orbit and opening a hyperspace window opened up the legionnaire told the General, "_Shadow of Retribution_ asking which ships he is to take as escorts."

"I don't care, just pick three of them," Nex said sounding annoyed at the question, "Send the long range sensor readings to my chambers. Legate, you have the bridge."

The legate nodded and assumed his post as Nex left the room. Somewhat frustrated Nex made his way to his quarters. The door opened and he sat down at his pouring himself a glass of wine he kept in the drawer. Turning on the console the sensor data popped up on the screen.

Five red ships appeared on the screen in a standard pattern with one ship in the back. One of the indicated Asgard ships winked out of existence after a long fight with the _Nova_. The second Asgard ship died a few minutes later as a new blue colored silhouette appeared, labeled _Vengeance_. Nex smiled at that, it was one of the new Alesian battleships recently commissioned. The Alesian general continued to watch as the _Shadow of Retribution_ appeared on the screen, one of the enemy ships almost immediately destroyed as it opened fire. As the Alesian dreadnought approached the two survivors, four other Alesian ships dropped out of hyperspace and began their attacks on the others._'__Pathetic__, what were they hoping to accomplish with such a small raid? __' _Nex thought to himself as he sipped from the wine glass. To his surprise, the screen went blank, showing empty space.

Nex slammed on his console and brought up the bridge on the internal comms.

"What happened to my long range sensors?" He snarled into the comm unit.

"I don't know sir. We are running diagnostics but so far everything seems to be in working order. It seems almost all of Alesian space seems to have disappeared from our scopes."

"What do you mean disappeared? How can all of the Empire just disappear? Recheck your sensors now!" Nex yelled angrily.

"Scratch that. Sir, it is still there but sensors are detecting a time anomaly."

"Focus sensors on that anomaly. Tell me what's going on!" Nex yelled in fury.

"They appear to be almost frozen in time," A legionnaire called out.

While staring at the data Nex almost didn't notice the fleet of Asgard ships decloaking around them. Alarms began to sound as the ships opened fire on the lone dreadnought.

"Sir, we are reading over a hundred Asgard ships in our immediate vicinity! Our shields are going down!"

"Quickly, activate the emergency transportation system send everyone on board to surface and set the self destruct!" Nex called out as he grabbed his grenade belt from the table as he disappeared from his office and reappeared on the planet.

"Sir, the Asgard are undoubtably going to fire on our position any moment! We must go!" The Legionnaire nearest Nex Ado shouted.

"To the _Astriaporta_!" Nex shouted as he ran.

Everyone was running now, as fast as they could to the Stargate. But their efforts were in vain as the Asgard opened fire on the Alesian ground positions. Nex felt it as he ran toward the gate, a searing heat and the ground quaked as the bombardment hit the planet. Thousands were killed instantly, hundreds more were injured and unable to walk. With each passing second more and more Alesians were killed. Only a handful made it to the Stargate. Thinking quickly Nex dialed an old Lantean outpost located in the middle rim. The gate opened with a large _kawoosh_ and Nex ran though just as an orbital strike hit behind him. He was all alone now.

**Milkyway Galaxy: Middle Rim : Sol Sector: Earth**

**2002 AD**

Cold. Teeth chattering, mind numbing, bone piercing cold. For miles, there was nothing but ice and snow. However that only makes an average March in Antarctica. SG-1 was providing escort to a host of scientists at the Ancient outpost looking for clues as to why it was there.

"Don't I take you to the most wonderful places?" Colonel O'Neill said to Major Carter sarcastically.

"All the time sir," Carter shot back with a smile, "Like that time on Chu'lak where we were imprisoned."

Colonel O'Neill approached an older Scientist with a receding hair line who was poking through some ice and asked, "So how are you eggheads doing?"

"Well we still can't figure out what the Ancients were even doing out here in the middle of Antarctica," Dr. Bill Lee replied.

"It probably wasn't frozen when they were using it." Carter said, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

Just then Rodney Mckay yelled from across the room, "I found someone."

"Something," Jack corrected him, "The only people dumb enough to be out here are us."

"No someone," Rodney replied, "And if we're stupid then what does that make the frozen Ancient?"

"Wait, what frozen Ancient?" Jack asked now actually interested.

They approached the block of ice. A man was inside, appearing to be about 5'9 with jet black hair and shining white armor. The man appeared to be clutching a staff in his hands. As they looked the man over, suddenly his eyes opened behind the ice revealing deep red eyes. Jack felt uneasy as he took a step back.

"Alright, pack it up. Usual containment procedures." He ordered as the team of scientists worked to excavate the block from the hole. A few hours later, they were on their way back to the SGC with their prize in tow.


	2. An Old Friend?

Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 2

An Old Friend?

**Milky way Galaxy: Middle Rim / Sol Sector / Earth**

**March 17, 2002**

**Colorado Springs, Colorado U.S.A**

A short man with blonde hair and green eyes sat in his house watching TV as usual. He was a successful businessman and was all alone despite appearing to be in his late forties. The program continued to play though he wasn't really paying attention. Something was scaring him and he didn't know why. It was as though someone he knew very well had come back. Someone that he had assumed was long dead.

The news had mentioned that a scientific expedition to Antarctica was returning. He really paid no attention to it as when the Lanteans had returned to Earth, Atlantis was still in the Pegasus galaxy and as such he didn't have to worry too much about the Humans, as they liked to call themselves finding anything to useful. Yet something was bothering him. He knew for years now that the humans were keeping the Stargate in Cheyenne Mountain. Deciding not to let it go he grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door. Once in his car he headed towards the old military base.

He parked his car near the main gate with several men with automatic weapons pointed towards him. Not bothering to introduce himself he stepped out of the car and raised his hands showing that he was unarmed. He didn't need to be though. He approached the gate and all of the guards fell asleep as they opened it up to arrest the intruder. He grabbed an ID card and went inside. Several more guards awaited him inside.

They posed no threat as they fell asleep the second they saw him. They hit the floor with a loud thud as he walked by without interruption. Once at the elevator he swiped the ID card and pushed a button on the elevator and descended in to the mountain. Once emerging into a long hallway he was met by another force of guards. They too fell asleep at his mental command. Slowly he made his way down corridors and hallways, into another elevator and to a medical center.

His fears were confirmed. His old apprentice was there. A man so dangerous that if he escaped, the universe would be forever doomed. Several men appeared behind him and told him to raise his hands. He considered putting them to sleep and running for dear life through the Stargate. But that would only delay his inevitable demise.

The man decided to raised his hands and told the guards. "There are greater threats to your facility then me."

"I'll decide that." General Hammond said walking around the corner, with SG-1 behind him.

"If that man returns to full consciousness, you will all perish and the galaxy will curse your names for the evil you have unleashed upon it. That is until while they still live."

"He can only blink and he's still an ice cube," O'Neill retorted.

"Then there is still time to kill him." The man stated.

"No one is killing anyone yet," Hammond said, "Take him to a cell so we can interrogate him."

The man did not resist as two guards came up and grabbed his arm, allowing himself to be led away.

_A few hours later_

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Metrinos," the man replied.

"And what makes the popsicle so dangerous," Jack continued his line of questioning.

"He is an Alesian," Metrinos answered, "Have you ever met an Alesian?"

"An Alesian? We've heard of them, never had the chance to mock one though."

"You would mock them?" Metrinos inquired, surprised by the statement.

"Of course I would, it's a job perk," O'Neill stated.

Metrinos shook his head as he asked, "when faced with not only your doom, but the destruction of the whole galaxy, you would make jokes?"

"It's what I do," Jack replied.

"You are a strange man," Metrinos shook his head.

"I prefer the term different, but that doesn't explain how you managed to get in here let alone, how you knew about the mansicle, or about the Alesians. We only found out about them recently." Jack said, back to business.

"Yes I am what you call an Ancient. They were once as well. My pupils in the Lantean fleet forces. They feared that the Ori would one day return to destroy us all. We feared them more then we feared the Ori. We were not wrong in doing so, what we didn't know was how much support they had amongst the fleet. A fifth of our forces defected when they were banished to a corner of this galaxy. A planet called Alesia. We hoped the high gravity would kill them, but it only made them stronger. Our betrayal of them left them bitter and spiteful. This one especially."

"Our plan seemed to have worked, for the first twelve thousand years or so. Until on a routine exploration mission, one of our scout ships vanished without a trace. Other ships were sent and only managed to get a message out. It simply read, they are coming. Battle hardened by the brutal landscape and planets savage gravity. Roughly five times that of earths, made them even more dangerous than before."

"However by then we were at war with the Wraith and hoped that the Asgard could keep them contained. And they did. Trapped in a time bubble the Alesians seem to have been contained. Only some of their outlying planets weren't affected. Hiel the Merciless somehow must have escaped and made his way to our old outpost."

"So what you're saying is, you're over twenty-two thousand years old," Jack asked.

"Older. Much older. But I am surprised that is all you took out of that," Metrinos inquired.

"Yeah. I hope to look as good when I reach that age," Jack replied sarcastically.

"This is serious. When he awakens he will reign down death and destruction upon you, like you have never seen before."

Jack shrugged as he asked, "What else can you tell us about these Alesians?"

Metrinos shook his head as he said, "We know nothing of them after they were banished to Alesia. We always assumed they had died off," Metrinos looked up as he continued; "Hiel is growing stronger as we speak. He has almost regained consciousness."

"And that's bad," Jack said jokingly.

"I can keep his powers suppressed for now, but its only a matter of time before my hold on him breaks," Metrinos suggested.

Jack shrugged his shoulders as he inquired, "Can't you just put him to sleep like you did those guards?"

Metrinos shook his head as he replied, "No. His mind is too strong and his will too powerful. The only thing I can do is suppress his telekinesis. Even then he will find a way to break through that and when he does we are all doomed. The only way to save yourselves is to kill him. Kill him now while he is still frozen."

"Not as frozen as you might like, you coward," a heavily sedated Nex mumbled as he was dragged into the cell next to Metrinos.

As Nex passed out, Metrinos sat in the corner of his cell and began to meditate to focus his power. It would only be a matter of time until Nex broke free, but this might buy him enough time for the humans to execute their greatest threat to date.

_The next day_

Nex awoke in his cell and everything around him was quiet. He peered up to see Col. O'Neill sitting in front of Metrinos' cell. Jack was saying something he wasn't quite sure what as he was still fairly doped up from before. All he knew was it seemed to be a one sided conversation.

As the drugs slowly wore off Nex felt stronger, and he knew his time of escape was near. Jack was still talking to Metrinos, although it was obvious that Metrinos wasn't responding to the questions. Standing up Nex also noticed that they stripped him of his armor. Something he wasn't expecting from the lesser beings. Something else was odd as well. He thrust his hand at the cell door expecting it be ripped from its hinges and now be imbedded in the wall. However, not even a puff of dust whiffed from the ground. Metrinos could be the only answer.

"How long can you hold me old man," Nex called out, "Even now you must feel me slipping from your grasp."

O'Neill peaked around the cell door and casually said, "Oh Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up and join the world of the living."

"You know nothing of living, primate," Nex retorted.

"Yeah well, talking to this guy is like talking to a brick wall," Jack replied.

"I find that hard to believe, it's impossible to get him to shut up," Nex snarled.

Jack just shrugged his shoulders and said, "he's kinda just sitting there."

Nex almost laughed as he called out, "Really old man? You have to resort to meditation to keep me down? Old age must be getting to you."

Jack leaned back in a chair he dragged over as he spoke, "So tell me a little bit about yourself, Hiel."

"Hiel? That man is no more," Nex said with rage in his voice.

"According to the guy in cell three, that's your name," Jack replied.

"The Lanteans took everything from me. My years of service meant nothing to them. My dedication meant nothing to them. My life meant nothing to those bastards!" Nex Ado shouted angrily, slamming his fist against the door.

"They stranded us on that forsaken planet. With an environment so harsh that they thought we would die in days. We survived. By the time our supporters arrived we had adapted to the savage gravity and the cold. Only the strongest survived. It was then the Alesian Empire was born, it was then I ceased to be what I was to them. I am now Nex Ado. General of the Imperial Legions of Alesia."

"So did this Amann Adar change his name as well?"

"No. Amann refused to let them take everything from him. Some of us took on new names, others kept their old. The choice was theirs to make." Nex, sneered at O'Neill

"So do you have a death star," Jack asked sarcastically.

"what pray tell are babbling on about," Nex asked.


	3. Home Sweet Home

**Darkest Before Dawn**

**Chapter 3**

**Home Sweet Home**

**Milky Way Galaxy: Middle Rim / Sol Sector / Earth**

**Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**April 2, 2013**

Jack walked up to Nex's cell carrying a book and asked, "Enjoying your stay?"

"Your literature is as refined as your sense of humor," Nex sneered as he tossed a book between the bars having it land at Jacks feet.

Jack looked down and frowned as he said, "Oh they had you read Twilight eh?"

"I wasn't sure if the guard was giving me a book to read or extra toilet paper," Nex retorted.

"This one's better I promise," Jack said as he handed Nex a new book, "just remember the guard will be here for more of your history in a few hours."

Nex nodded as he took the book and sat back down on his bed and started to read. The humans and him came to a sort of agreement, he would tell them some things of Alesian history and they would give him some historical documents to read. This one was entitled _The Hobbit_. He knew it was a work of fiction, it was however still strangely interesting. Of course the information he gave them was equally as fake or was worthless. The key to successful deception was one part half truth and one part playing on expectations.

_A few hours later_

As Nex finished reading the page he swept his hand with two fingers extended over the book turning the page. A couple of minutes later meant another page down and another sweep of the hand to turn the page. This went on for a few more pages until Nex noticed something. Sweeping his hand over the book again the page turned. So he did it again, and again and again. With a smirk on his face Nex closed the book hearing the guard approach that would be there to hear more of his "history" lessons.

As the guard turned towards Nex he held up a recorder and said, "You know the drill. I record your history and we give you a historical document."

Nex stood up to face the pathetic mortal as he replied, "I'm not feeling it today."

"Either you spill the beans, or I take the book back," the guard retorted.

"By all means, take it." Nex sneered as he tossed the book towards the guard. As it sailed towards the poor soul, he reached out to grab it. Before it reached the guard's hand Nex thrust his right hand towards the gate sending a wave of telekinetic energy towards the door. The barred wall ripped from the concrete encasement and crushed the poor man in against the opposite wall. Loud multiple snaps were heard as the impact broke bones in the guard's body.

Nex acted quickly as he spun right and thrust his left hand forward blowing out the whole wall. Metrinos, who was in the opposing cell, was thrown onto the floor, where he laid limp upon the floor with debris strewn across his body. This brought no small amount of personal satisfaction to Nex as he strode out of the jail as though nothing was wrong. Alarms began to sound as Nex suspected they would. Fortunately, with Metrinos out of the way, Nex could use his full abilities.

Nex smirked as he waved his hand, bending light around himself to conceal his form. With this ability, he was able to sneak about the SGC with relative ease. However it took him a few hours to actually locate the armory where his gear was being held and avoid the guards that were running around the base to find him. Nex poked his head around the corner and saw two guards at the entrance to the armory. A quick mental scan confirmed his gear was inside.

Nex gestured sharply, dispatching the guards before they even knew it was coming, leaving their heads facing the wrong direction without even having touched them. A simple flick of the wrist and the armory door was removed from the wall and lying on the floor before him. After looking through the area he found what he was looking for. It took him only a moment to get into his armor and power it up. Diagnostics came on as well as his targeting sensors. With a cold smile, he picked up his black staff, which was given to him by his old friend and leader, Amann Adar, to symbolize his leadership of the Death's Hand. '_I must get to that control room._' He thought as he made his way to the control room for the stargate that he accidentally stumbled on to while looking for his gear.

Once there he dispatched the one person watching the system by simply smashing one end of his staff on the side of the mans face with a loud crack, knocking him into a nearby mainframe. A guard rushed around the corner, which was easily dispatched with a burst from his plasma blaster. After a few moments and three more dead guards, Nex had full access and dialed Alesia before locking the others out from their own computer and setting the self destruct sequence. Nex then secured his staff to his back as he made his way downstairs.

As he entered the gate room a strange metal structure enclosed around the event horizon as Jack yelled out, "Stop where you are."

Nex peered over his shoulder and smirked at Jack as he reached out towards the iris. The metal bent and buckled under the extreme stress of Nexs mental grasp. Cuts opened along deep ridges formed in his hands. Fresh blood leaked from his gloves and onto the ground of the gate room. Nex grimaced as he focused his power, screaming in rage and pain as the metal deformed. With a loud crash the metal of the iris ripped free from the gate and crumpled into a ball of scrap metal that floated in the air. Nex waved a hand and the ball of jagged steel clashed on the ground as he walked through the stargate, the wormhole closing behind him.

Looking at the mess left in the room Jack looked at Hammond and muttered, "We are so screwed."

**Milky Way Galaxy: Outer Rim / Alesia Sector / Alesia**

**April 02, 2013 Earth time**

**Alesia City, Core Complex**

Nex stepped through the gate to see several Alesians pointing their weapons at him. As soon as they saw him their jaws dropped as quickly as their weapons and they all slammed their fist into their breast in salute. They had figured him for dead. Even after they escaped the time bubble they saw no signs or traces of him anywhere in their old colonies. They figured he was hunted and killed by the Asgard just like the rest of their kind. Word instantly spread as the gate guard reported his presence. It did not take long for it to go up the chain of command.

A few minutes later, Amann entered the room and walked over to Nex with a look of shock. He just stared at Nex, his mouth slightly open.

"Hiel? Is it really you?" Amann managed to say.

"Yes it is. And you know I prefer Nex." Hiel said, looking at Amann with his eyes narrowed. Amann was one of the very few that could call him by his old name to his face.

"So you have said before." The Alesian High Councilor said, his dark eyes looking into red. Hiel was unprepared as Amann suddenly smiled. It was one of the few genuine smiles that Hiel had seen from Amann in a long time. He was also shocked when Amann darted forward and embraced him in a bear hug.

"Hiel! You cunning old wolf! I knew if anyone could survive the Asgard, it would be your sorry carcass!" Amann said with a laugh, patting him on the back as Hiel chuckled, returning the brotherly hug.

"Yeah, they nearly had me. But I still outsmarted those eunuchs." Hiel smirked as Amann laughed. After a moment, they let go and started walking along the corridor.

"You are rather late, you know." Amann said as they pushed past two more Legionnaires posted at the door.

"I had a hard journey, Councilor. There were many obstacles to overcome before I was able to return." Nex said formally.

"Nevertheless, I am glad to see you…..brother." Amann said, using the Alesian form of address towards their close friends.

"You as well." Nex said.

"We have to talk. Privately. In my office." Amann gestured as the two Alesians walked together. Nex noticed that Amann was not wearing his usual white robes, but full Alesian battle armor.

"I take it you are still on a war footing?" Nex said, indicating the armor.

"Yes. I may be abducted by our enemies and I must be prepared for battle at a moment's notice. I am sure you can understand." Amann said as they entered his office.

"Yes. I can." Nex said as Amann sat down behind the white desk. Screens surrounded the councilor, and Nex was reminded heavily of a command and control center for starports, except the screens displayed reports and data charts instead of traffic lanes. As he watched, several more reports opened up on the screens. Amann looked at the screens with undisguised contempt.

"I hate office work." Amann grumbled. "I have three aides and I still get thousands of messages a day, all of them critical. I never get around to answering them all."

Nex nodded at that. He could relate. He hated the feeling of being trapped in an office. His musing nearly made him miss the next question

"Where have you been? Its been years since we broke the time field and we haven't seen or heard from you since." Amann said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Nex began to recall everything that had happened since he first conquered Belst. Amann listened carefully, asking a few side questions to get a broader picture of Nex's time on Earth.

As Nex finished his report, Amann asked, "So the Terrans are a primitive race?"

"Very much so," Nex replied, "They are barely evolved enough to think let alone conquer space travel. They pose no threat at all at the moment. Though given our rate of expansion prior to the time stasis, we would reach Earth in about a century. If they get to Atlantis or if the Asgard help them they could become quite a formidable foe."

"Well, we need you back at work immediately. Go home. Get some rest and report to me in the morning for your next assignment."

"Yes sir." Nex saluted.

"It's good to see you again. With you by our side again, we will have victory."

"Damn right we will." Hiel got up and left, the door closing behind him.

It wasn't long before he made his way home. Even though he hadn't been there in several thousand years it seemed like it was only yesterday. After all from his perspective he was here only a month or so ago, and everything was right where it was when he left it.

_The next day…_

Nex awoke and went over to his personal terminal. After hitting a few buttons a meal appeared on the table. While the humans fed him, the meals paled in comparison to fine Alesian dining. He dug in eagerly to his favorite meal and got ready for his work. He threw on his armor and grabbed his staff. His time on earth affected him more then he knew, the low gravity had weakened his body. His armor seemed a little heavy and uncomfortable, and he seemed to tire more easily back on his homeworld. The pathetic mortals made him weak but it wouldn't be long before he adapted back to the high gravity.

As he made his way to the High Councilors chambers, he noticed that everyone that he passed gasped. While he knew he was very well known throughout the Empire, what he didn't know was that they declared him dead and held a day of grievance in his honor. The people never thought their war hero would return. His position wasn't just given to him, it was earned by the blood he shred from his enemies. There were times when he would return to his chambers from the front lines literally covered in it. Most Alesian generals did not participate in combat nearly as much as he did. Those that did were some of the most formidable soldiers he had ever served with.

And Nex prided himself on being the absolute best warrior among his people, with the possible exception of Amann Adar himself. They had sparred many times in all forms of combat. While Nex had much more experience on the battlefield, experience and cunning only counted for so much before his friend's raw mentalic power. And Amann had plenty of experience, Nex reminded himself. Amann had served in the Lantean Sentinels just as he did, eventually rising to officer rank. You don't get to be a fleet captain, a flag officer of the Lantean Fleet, by being incompetent. '_That changed after we got exiled it seems, otherwise the Lanteans would never have lost to the Wraith_.' Nex thought with a mental sneer. Nex prided himself on a greater mastery of the blades, which is something Amann never could beat him at.

As he reached Amann's office, he sat down and waited. A few minutes later, Amann walked in and sat down.

"Morning General. Sleep well?" Amann asked.

"Very well, Councilor. Thank you." Hiel said as Amann handed him a data pad with some information on it. It took him only a moment to glance at it and see what Amann had planned. Instead of expanding out in all directions like normal, they were going to start focusing their expansion towards Terra.

"You understand my strategy it seems. Even though they would be like an ant under our feet now, if they got their hands on Lantean tech, who knows how far they could advance in a hundred years. Given their resourcefulness, they could become a great threat in a short amount of time. I will not allow that." Amann stated as he indicated the pad in Nex's hand.

Nex looked at the pad again. Amann wanted Nex to head to a planet called Vespir, on the outskirts of their current territory. A system somewhat close to that of Belst. Even the name now fills him with rage. While he was victorious in his conquest and would have been against the Asgard near by had he been prepared, they still outsmarted him. He was the greatest tactical mind his people had ever seen, and he was fooled by a cloned race of eunuchs and stranded in a glacier.

When Nex was done reading he looked up and Amann said, "You'll be taking the planet by ground forces only."

"No orbital strikes or aerial support?" Nex asked.

Amann shook his head as he replied with, "Not this time. While the bulk of our fleet was kept safe within the time bubble, we have no ships to spare. We only have what we need for defensive purposes here on the planet, the rest are all actively engaged in securing our old outposts. You will be dropped off with your men and left there until our next batch of ships is built."

Nex got up as Amann did the same.

"No retreat." Amann said.

"No surrender." Nex said, saluting and acknowledging the old blessing.

"May you bring victory for the Empire." Amann said, saluting back.

Nex nodded his understanding and left the room. The pad said he was authorized to take a full legion of men with him to secure the planets surface. He would have three weeks to conquer the planet before the Imperial Fleet would come by to pick him up. An Angelan class dreadnought would escort him back to Alesia. This would not be easy. The planet, while still technologically inferior to Alesia, is still not as primitive as Nex would like for a ground assault. Plus the enemy had numbers on their side. Nex smiled. The enemy always had numbers.


End file.
